The Greens have got their own problems, just like the mainstream parties

As parliamentary politics becomes more of a Punch and Judy show, the Australian purists' party, otherwise known as the Greens, is encountering turbulence.

A flat-lining performance in last July's federal election, failure to win more lower house seats, factionalism in NSW and leadership murmurings, mean the Greens are not the same happy campers they were a couple of years ago.

Behind this is an existential question confronting the Greens for the first time since they burst on the national parliamentary scene in the early 90s: are they a movement or a political party?

Greens leader Richard Di Natale presents more as a mainstream politician – but someone less able than Bob Brown to straddle the Green parliamentary party-grass roots political protest movement dichotomy. Andrew Meares

Of course the last person to combine those two elements was Donald Trump in the US. The emotionally disenfranchised voter who paved the way for Trump's astonishing success could be fertile recruitment material for the Greens, but he/she is more likely to go to Pauline Hanson's populist, right-wing One Nation Party.

Not surprisingly, the current Greens leader, Senator Richard Di Natale, says they are both. He swats away questions about a factional eruption in NSW, and uses a coat of rhetorical paint to put the best gloss on a disappointing recent federal election result.

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Senator Di Natale is guardedly bullish. He expects "in the next two or three elections" to increase Greens' representation in the House of Representatives, where Adam Bandt has been the party's sole torch-holder since 2010.

It's a far cry from those happy Green days just 18 months ago. The Greens were confidently predicting they'd be part of a federal coalition government with Labor, and win a cluster of lower house seats in the inner suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney, plus the odd "sea change" seat like Richmond in northern NSW.

Back before the July two federal election Di Natale was claiming the Greens were a "chance" to win lower house seats. Now he's stretched the time-frame to securing up to eight seats over the next decade.

NSW struggles

Greens leader Richard Di Natale says they are both. He swats away questions about a factional eruption in NSW, and uses a coat of rhetorical paint to put the best gloss on a disappointing recent federal election result. Arsineh Houspian

In the lower house they performed well in inner city seats in Melbourne such as Batman and Melbourne Ports. The actual percentage of the vote also increased nationally in the House of Representatives poll by 1.58 per cent to 10.23 per cent. But the figures are misleading because the Greens contested more lower-house seats than previously.

Once again, they were let down in NSW. The state hosts a factional divide between so-called "Tree Tories" – people who believe in a mixed economy but with strong environmental controls – and "watermelons".

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The latter are "green on the outside and red on the inside" members, many who also belong to the Left Renewal faction, where Trotskyists, Marxists and student militants are determined to pursue an anti-capitalist agenda.

Moves are afoot – albeit in a fairly non-confrontational, Green-style fashion – to staunch the Party's internal bleeding in NSW. On January 28 the Greens National Council declared formal factions were "incompatible" with the Party's principles. Asked about factional problems, Senator Di Natale said: "I support the National Council decision."

The Greens in NSW are struggling with a factional divide between "Tree Tories" and "watermelons". Natalie Grono

Left Renewal is, according to Greens founder Bob Brown, "trying to do away with law and order and end capitalism".

Taking a tougher approach than the Greens National Council, Mr Brown continued: "It's a very unsurprising point of view of people who have not had much experience in the real world. It is tiny-town thinking and it has no electoral appeal and they know it.

"The challenge [for Left Renewal members] is to have integrity and form a [separate] political party and go for it. They should stay outside, but they know they have no chance of electoral success, so therefore they can't separate themselves from the Greens," he says.

Picking an identity

According to Stewart Jackson, a lecturer in politics at Sydney University who's made a special study of the Greens, "NSW is where their problems lie and they will be flat-lining over the next few years".

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Left Renewal is, according to Greens founder Bob Brown, "trying to do away with law and order and end capitalism". SIMON MOSSMAN

Referring to the emergence of the Left Renewal faction, he said the NSW Greens "have to work out whether they want to be a party of government or a movement staying in opposition".

Richard Di Natale wants political power for the Greens. And he has Green street cred as a medical doctor who worked in Aboriginal communities. Hard-working, articulate and a good parliamentary performer, he is also a combative politician somewhat lacking in Bob Brown-style down-home charisma.

This means Di Natale presents more as a mainstream politician – but someone less able than Bob Brown to straddle the Green parliamentary party-grass roots political protest movement dichotomy.

According to Stewart Jackson, Senator Di Natale "has positioned himself as a very serious person. He's not a Pauline Hanson or Nick Xenophon populist figure. He's trying to be a bit Paul Keating-esque."

"I don't think he's having a huge impact at this point. He doesn't seem to be on the front foot." By contrast, Greens founder Bob Brown "was very adept at tapping into emotions and he was able to create things".

And there's a more global explanation for the Australian Greens problems. In Germany, where Die Grunen pioneered the Greens shift from protest to Parliament, the Party is still struggling to attract more than 10-12 per cent support of the German electorate.

In Holland De Groenen are tipped by recent polls to more than triple their parliamentary representation from four to 14 seats in a 150-member parliamentary chamber in March 15 elections. Like most continental European countries, however, Holland uses a proportional representation form of voting, so the forecast result would, if achieved, pretty much match the Green performance in Australia.

Finally, Die Grunen in Denmark have formed a Left Renewal-style Red-Green Alliance Party. One of the most left-wing parties in Europe, it advocates socialist democracy in Denmark and globally.